Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Writer as God



A writer told me the truth once.

She said, "When I write, I am the God of my world and I am closest to the Divine that I can be. I form the men and women of my world from the left-over dust of my thoughts and I breathe the life of my inspiration into them."

Long hair, rich and brown. A glass of wine bled from fragrant grapes bursting with life. A slight tilt to her chin and eyes brash with a challenge to the whole world as though I wasn't even there. Drunk with the power of creation.

Beyond the porch light of her world, the demons watched, drawn by her passionate fire.

For the difference between the Divine and the Darkness is the gift of creation.

Writers create, plagiarists hide in the shadows waiting to steal what they cannot bring forth on their own.MySpace Tracker

21 comments:

David Cranmer said...

Amen, Rick.

Rick said...

It's been a year of learning, David. Someday all of us have to meet at a conference and swap stories. The one who's sold the most books has to buy dinner.

Barbara Martin said...

To me plagarists tend to be misguided folks who like the work they read but fail to take the time to write the sequences in their own words.

But to call them little devils: well, they too are creators, albeit of a different kind.

Rick said...

I was going to say demons, Barbara, but maybe I should call them leeches. No, I don't want to give leeches a bad name.

Charles Gramlich said...

It definitely seems that the act of creativity, as in writing or any art, is the closest one can be to godhood. It's a shame someone would try to steal that feeling.

Desert Rose said...

In a way i agree with you. or her, the writer sometimes holds the strings of her world but at others, her words pull her in and she is more under the spell of creation. It is beyond the mere rules of divinity, in fact, it might be her only moment of truth.
LOVED your piece..:)

Rick said...

Over the years I've come to believe that it's either the closest we come to Divinity or the ultimate control trip. Maybe I little of both.

Rick said...

Hello, Desert Rose! Thank you and did you ever wonder if that is the poignant basis of the divine mercy? That God, however the Universal Creator is described, also loves and is entranced by creation?

G. B. Miller said...

So very, very true...and yet sometimes in the larger scheme of things, even though we are little fishes in the big pond of life, we are the king of our own little pond.

So long as we don't act like Calvin, we should be good to go.

Rick said...

G, that's why I never answer the phone when Calvin calls. Happy New Year to you!

Rick said...

Hey, Travis! I hope you are writing or thinking a lot because this New Year will be a big challenge for you. Me too, I think.

the walking man said...

It is when I write that I feel closest to being human. when I am not writing I am one with the silence of the spirit. I just am stuck on which I prefer more. Them that steal the work of another, reaping fruit they did not work to earn are known, if not by man then by the eternal and in the end it will be tallied up and accounted for.

Until then I say hunt, kill, eat and burp.

Yes let's have a writers conference and whoever sold the most books has to buy dinner. I think we need to ensure Charles is there!

Steve Buchheit said...

Okay, now I've got a whole damn cosmology thing going on in my head. And it's very orthodox in it's structure and hierarchy.

And along side of that is Christopher Lee leaning over saying, "Orcs were once Elves..."

Damnit, I'm going to need to restock on my mental floss to get this out of there.

K.Lawson Gilbert said...

Hi, Rick

I like that quote - it is...well...quotable!

Rick said...

Hey, Mark! I've been thinking about what you said, and I wonder if when we write at best we become a meeting place between the Divine and humanity, and at worst we are empty vessels.

After driving eight hundred miles yesterday, the mind tends to drift!

Rick said...

I'm glad you reminded me, Steve. My stock of mental floss is running way too low.

Happy New Year to you and hope to see you again soon. Been way too long.

Rick said...

Why, thank you, K! Coming from you that makes me very happy. Soon as I'm off the road I'll be back to your blog. Have you ever had much success with hotel internet connections? I'm lucky if I can find my own blog. For some reason my anti-virus does not like me traveling.

Kathryn Magendie said...

Well written/said, Rick!

I just came across "pirates" - my publishers are always on the look out for "word thieves" and have someone hired just for the purpose of looking for and getting rid of these websites that try to give work away for free - not exactly plaguarism, but ... *ergh*

Happy New Year!

Lana Gramlich said...

Happy New Year, hon. My best to you & yours. :)

Lisa said...

Happy New Year Rick.

Apart from writers conferences, will I find you at the Pittcons or ISAs?

Unknown said...

I don't think of the writer AS God, I believe beautiful writing is grace coming FROM God.

Nice post!